


Child of the Green

by Poplitealqueen



Category: The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Legolas' mother, Legolas' parents, Pre-main story, Snippet, Tauriel's parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 23:57:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1245115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poplitealqueen/pseuds/Poplitealqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Elvenmaid has gone to Imladris to meet the son of her late King, and give her seat as ruler of the Greenwood back to him. She discusses how she feels about the entire situation with a love-struck guardsman, and how she feels about the icy Princeling himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Child of the Green

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers!  
> This particular one is centered near the beginning of the Third Age when Legolas' parents meet for the first time ( and man, is there a LOT of staring.)  
> It also includes Tauriel's father, and mentions her mother as well.  
> Let's just say this is set ermmmm about seven years before the two are born.  
> Please let me know what you think! :)  
> Hasta la vista, mis amigos y amigas!

A diadem of flawless pearls sat on her ginger-hued brow, accented by the white asphodels behind each elegantly pointed ear. She knew at that moment she was beyond elegant; perhaps even at par with the legendary beauty, Lúthien, if she was in a mind to be so petty. What mattered was that she was beyond many things in Elrond's home- beyond her petty Silvan blood.

And beyond nervous as well.

Rílas Seregoniel of the Greenwood felt akin to a sapling torn from its home soil, thrown into a rocky crevice, and expected to grow. The poise of the Half-Elven's illustrious home made her feel cold trepidation. She longed for the towering boles and chaotic mystery of her homeland, not the marble, stone and quiet peace of Imladris. It may not be as pretty as this place, she thought, but it is home.

She must have sighed aloud, or something equally telling, because her guard – a stick skinny Elf with bright green eyes- looked at her with something resembling camaraderie and smiled halfheartedly.

“ _Hiri vuin_ ,” he said in a reassuring voice. “ You needn't have such apprehension. I have heard tell that Prince Thranduil is a kind and gentle person--”

“ Yes, yes. Just as kind and gentle as his _Adar_ was before him, I'm sure.” she snapped, but uncertainly.

Her elf guard grimaced.

“ Be that as it may, _hiri vuin_ , he is also our new ruler.”

Rílas scowled and sat abruptly on an intricately carved bench in the open oval of a courtyard that they had been wandering in. It was situated beneath a young oak, and helped to relax her. Her guard blinked in surprise at the inelegant way she crossed her slender arms and huffed.

“ I could care less of his royal status!” her eyes softened as she stared up into the gold and green canopy above her. “ I care only that he loves our home as much as I... Yet he has never even set foot in the soil of the Greenwood!”

The guard shifted uncertainly on his feet. He ran a hand through his honey-colored hair. She knew he and many other of the Silvan elves thought as she did, but they feared the wrath of Oropher's line. Yet how could a Sindar elf who'd been raised in the majesty of Doriath ever come to understand the Woodland Realm and its people? At least King Oropher had lived amongst them, even if he had not been one of them. She turned her head up when the guard spoke in a quiet tone.

“ _Iston_ , _hiri vuin_ , but you must realize that--”

“What is your name, guardsman?” the Elf-maid cut in rudely. She had no wish to discuss rightful rulers and all that right now.

“Huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “ Your. Name.” she repeated with a frown of annoyance.

The guard straightened. “ _Estannen Taurithil_ , _hiri vuin_.”

“ Hm. Taurithil. Taur...ithil.” she let the name roll across her tongue. “ A fine Silvan name,” she decided . “ Now, pray tell, are you married, Taurithil?”

“M-married?” gushed Taurithil. He blushed and smiled a wane smile. “ Well, there is this one archer among the guard that I have--”

“ Her name?”

“Erinmír.” he said like a prayer.

“ The red-headed _Eledhes_?” she asked. If she was correct, this Erinmír was a fierce individual with a serious face and the eye to shoot the wings off a fly from a league away.

Taurithil nodded, entranced by her memory.“ Mm. The fairest Elf in Greenwood... Er. Besides you, _hiri vuin_.”

Rílas waved away his hasty comment.

“ No need, Taurithil. No need. So, you love this woman?”

He sat beside her suddenly on the bench, far enough away not to touch, but close enough that she saw the truth shining in his emerald eyes.

“ Yes, _hiri vuin_. “ he murmured as if someone may overhear and fly his words to the fiery-haired archeress. Leaning in conspiratorially, he added. “ I mean to ask her to marry me upon our return.”

Rílas smiled brightly at this. It was hard to think of young love when you had to help run an entire kingdom whilst its king and his heir were off at war—she welcomed the change.

“ I wish joy and light upon that day, Taurithil.”

“ _La fael_ , _hiri vuin_.” he answered with a soft comfortable smile.

“ Rílas.” she corrected.

“ _L-la fael_ , _Rílas_.” answered the blinking elf sheepishly.

A part of her didn't want to continue with where their conversation had been heading. That she was losing something to this Sindar prince, something she loved dearly. She would have liked to keep her lovestruck guard as he was; lost in the memory of his love... But if there was anything Rilas was not, it was a soft-toed diplomat who skirted the main point.

She looked away for a moment, to come to a decision. Then turned back to him with a mischievous look in her dark blue eyes.

“ _Peditham hi sui vellyn_?” she asked.

He looked at her with surprising faith and nodded. Oh, she had never met an elf as quickly trusting as this one!

“ Of course, _hir_ \- er, Rílas.” he answered. “ I welcome it.” Taurithil smiled broadly with a hint of worry in his eyes. He had an odd way of showing every emotion on his face- an odd trait for an elf. But, she thought, am I any different? Taurithil may be a simple guard, but we are both of like blood. She contemplated him as she spoke, and came to a jolting realization. She suddenly understood that perhaps she wasn't as alone in this odd realm as she had originally thought. She realized that he was also far from something he loved-- and from his home. But while hers was one in the same, his was twofold.

She cursed her blindness, and rethought her words.

“ In truth, I wish I did not have to give away my seat to this... this iceling prince. I have heard tell that he is as cold and unmoving as ice atop a mountain summit, and...Well, to be fair, I...”

“ He scares you?” questioned the guard with a knowing look in his bright eyes.

She looked at him, flummoxed.

“ Mae.” she answered tersely. “ I am afraid of how he will treat our home, and I am afraid of not meeting his expectations.”

“ Expectations? You wish to please him?” a smirk tugged at Taurithil's lip.

She glowered at him, but didn't deny it.

“ I wish to show him that the Greenwood is a place that should be cherished.” she continued low.

Taurithil leaned one arm on the armrest on his side of the bench. His gentle face had hardened ever so slightly to appear hard and unmoveable.

“It must be hard, losing something you love to one you just met. I cannot imagine having to go through that with Rílas. It would probably destroy me, to lose what I cherish most on this earth.”

She looked away startled. Once again, he had surprised her. And after all the trouble she had gone to not raise the thought! There he was simply stating it like a fact.

She could feel more than hear his silent laughter as she haughtily adjusted her tiara over her ginger tresses.

“ But, since it appears I am your _mellon_ now, I do know something that could perhaps ease your nervousness. “ He added to her.

She looked over her shoulder.

“ Well?”

“ I have heard from many of Lord Elrond's household guard that Prince Thranduil is just as nervous to meet you. If not more so.”

“Oh?” she turned back to him fully, ears prickling. The iceling Thranduil, worried about _her_?

Taurithil nodded.

“ He stalks restlessly in his quarters, and demands to have all that can be provided about the Greenwood. Some of your other guards have been called in by him to retell your tastes in how you ruled in his absence. He even pesters Lord Elrond and his wife, despite her being heavy with those twins of theirs, but they will have less and none of it. “ he chuckled as he saw her ears redden. “ He refuses to leave his rooms, lest he run into you prematurely.

To hide the warm astonishment building in her belly, Rílas laughed high.

“ He wishes to please me that much? You'd think he was lovestruck!” the mere words sent a tickle down her spine. She added hastily:

“ He seems to fear me, yet I have never even met him!”

“ Your reputation proceeds you, Rilas _mellon_. More than half the local elves know not to anger you.”

The Elvenmaid smiled to herself. It was true that she'd built a reputation in her youth as a wild thing, unpredictable and easily willing to quarrel over a small spite. But she'd thought she'd grown out of it, at least partially. She still had this on her mind when another guard-- one of Lord Elrond's, for she didn't recognize her-approached to tell her that her audience was required with the Elvenprince. The poor thing looked dazzled and flustered, and seemed ready to have to drag Rilas there.

She smiled at the woman, and offered Taurithil a parting pat on the shoulder before turning to the guard-woman.

“ Well? Show me the way, then.”

***

A tall pale elf stepped forward proudly, trying to hide his apprehension- she could see- in the way he kept his long fingered hands clasped behind his back. Rilas sucked in a breath when he caught her eye.

Thranduil Oropherion was as fey and handsome as his _Adar_ had been before him, if not more so to her eyes. His long hair laid straight down his back , the muted pale gold of yellow moon reflected in a river. His eyes were  bright, and burnished as _mithril,_ with the slightest hint of blue that made them appear like mist. He had a quiet air about him that many gain after losing much of what they have once known, but she also saw a fierce little light within him.

And those eyebrows! She nearly giggled when he raised the right one in question.

She smiled at him as she sat down at his table, and he smiled back with mild confusion.

“ _A ernil nin Thranduil_ ,” she teased, “ I've heard tell that you were worried about  my thoughts? Am I as terrifying as you pictured?”

The tall elf paused in surprise in his stride to his chair. Yet despite that he still smiled a small smile at her joking, and the barest hint of a blush colored his cheeks.

“ _A hiri vuin Rilas_ ,” he answered, and his voice sounded like warm honey to her ears. “ I also heard tell that you enjoy teasing. “ he sat languidly.

She laughed softly.

“ Please, call me Rilas..”

**Author's Note:**

> Sindarin Translations
> 
> Hiri vuin- my lady  
> Iston- I know  
> Adar- Father  
> Estannen- I am called...  
> Eledhes- elf woman  
> La fael- thank you ( formal)  
> Peditham hi sui vellyn?- May we speak as friends now?  
> mellon- friend  
> A- Hi  
> ernil nin- my prince  
> mithril- the elvish word for the shining grayish white Dwarf-metal that is harder than diamond  
> Taurithil- Forest Moon  
> Rilas- leaf crown  
> Mae- yes
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! :)


End file.
